The structure(s) of racial attitudes among White college students

Abstract

In this study, the notion of racism is reviewed and defined. Recent research has proposed at least three structures to Whites’ racial attitudes: A one-dimensional structure in which racism is treated as a whole; target-based factors in which racism towards one target group might be different than racism towards another target; and function-based factors in which there are different aspects of racism towards a given target group. In this study, student responses to a measure of racism are used to test the three models. A three-factor solution provides the best explanation of the data, suggesting distinct, but interrelated views towards intimate interracial relationships, towards social relationships, and towards macro-social/political phenomena. These findings have both theoretical and policy implications.